Online Advertising Surpasses Outdoor; Will Equal Cable

Online advertising will grow to $11.5 billion in 2003, surpassing dollars spent in some traditional media according to research from Jupiter Communications (www.jup.com). The report indicates that ad spending will increase 40 percent over the next four years, with financial services, automotive, and media ventures -- not packaged goods -- leading the spending.

Jupiter points to the growing online population, a rise in time spent online, increasing digital commerce adoption and an increase in inventory sold as reasons online advertising revenues have already surpassed those for outdoor advertising. Jupiter predicts that online advertising will exceed spending for cable advertising and equal about three-quarters of today's radio spending in 4 years.

Jupiter's analysts say the industry should consider this a wake-up call. "Media integration and inevitable erosion of traditional markets will be more important than the effects of online ad dollar growth," explains Patrick Keane, senior analyst and director of Jupiter's online advertising strategies, in a company statement. "This is less about the online medium evolving to fit advertisers needs than it is about advertisers evolving to fit the needs of the medium, and ultimately, consumers."

Keane also commented that advertisers should stop thinking of online ad media as separate from off-line advertising. In a recent survey of online advertisers, only 30 percent currently cross media audience measurement or reporting, and 57 percent said that they never or infrequently compare online and off-line media performance. -- Brian Ploskina